The Assault of the Shadows
by Jasdevil Alchemist
Summary: "And maybe, it might not even be a person at all. What if it really is just the Shadows?" They had never even considered the possibility that the very thing that had brought them together would decide to tear them apart.
1. Chapter 1

_**The Assault of the Shadows**_

_**Chapter 1**_

"Joey, slow down!" Yugi Mutou was running at full speed to keep up with his golden -haired companion, a Mr. Joey Wheeler.

"No can do, Yug! I told Teá we'd be there a'12:30, n'th' last time we kept Teá waitin'..." he stopped abruptly, Yugi unable to, effectively smashing into his backside and onto the sidewalk below.

Joey shivered involuntarily, rubbing his arms. "Never...Never again..., but 'nyway, Yug...Yug? Yugi where are ya?"

"Down...here...ow..."

"Whataya doin' down there? C'mon, we gotta go!" And then he was gone. Yugi groaned and stood up wearily, staring off after Joey. He sighed and started running, a faint chuckling emanating from the back of his mind at his puffing, strained breaths as the Millennium Puzzle whacked him in the chest as he ran.

/_Oh shut up/_

\_Why aibou, whatever did I say?_\

/_It's not like you'd do any better, you're just as short as I am! Just because you're hair and torso are longer, does not mean you're a better runner! So stop laughing!/_

The voice did not respond, just lapsing back into mild laughter. Yugi frowned, but said nothing and continued running. His other half, also known as Yami, Atemu, or Pharaoh, was the voice in the back of his mind. They had been together, sharing a body, for four years now,Yami choosing to stay with him until he died instead of going on to the afterlife. It had been two weeks after the ceremonial battle, and now they had accepted an invitation to a tournament in England, and they were leaving in three days. Joey, Tea, and Tristan had wanted to get in as much time together as they could before he left, because they weren't coming, and he was going to stay in England with Bakura for a while. Yami was a bit disgruntled about staying with him, not entirely sure if it was safe for Yugi to be around Bakura, but they hadn't seen hide nor hair of the Spirit of the Ring since Memory World, or the actual Ring since the Ceremonial Duel, and so Yami decided to be lenient. Plus, Yugi had killer puppy dog eyes.

The tournament was to be in London, not too big, but Yami had been itching for a real duel, particularly one not life-threatening or Kaiba-related, and so Yugi had agreed to go as long as they stayed with Bakura. When they informed their friends of this, they immediately filled up his remaining days in Japan with random friendship-y outings, to spend as much time with their spiky haired friends as they could. This particular afternoon, Joey had gone arcade-ing with him for the morning, and then they were gonna meet up with the rest of the gang still in Japan (Teá, Tristan, Duke, Serenity, and Mokuba {Kaiba apparently had better things to do than hang with a bunch of friendship-y dweebs and his arch-rival(s)}) eat lunch and go ice-skating (Teá's idea) (**A/N: What do they do when they're not going to school, playing duel monsters, or fighting for the fate of the world?**).

Yugi turned the corner to find the gang standing there waiting for him front of Burger World, Teá sternly talking to Joey about something (\_Probably why he showed up without you, Aibou._\ smirk*), Tristan and Duke arguing over Serenity, Serenity looking happily oblivious, and Mokuba waving at him, having spotted him in his sorry state as he jogged heavily across the street toward them.

"Hey Yugi! Psyched for ice skating?" Mokuba greeted him cheerily.

Yugi put his hands on his knees for support as he panted, Yami smirking in spirit form behind him. "I was...huff*...until I had to run five blocks to keep up...pant*...with Joey."

"Heh, sorry bout' that, Yug," Joey scratched the back of his head. "Sometimes I forget yer not s'good at runnin', bein'so short'n'all. Wasn't on purpose or nothin'."

"...you'd probably forget your head if it wasn't screwed on...," Teá muttered. "But at least you made it. We can all go eat now! Come on, guys!" Teá pushed open the door to Burger World, and they all rushed in. Tristan put Joey in a headlock.

"Hey Joey, bet you ¥800 I can eat more burgers than you!" (about $10)

Joey threw Tristan off him, knocking to the ground, and grinned evilly. "I'd like ta seeya try! Yer on!" They raced to the queue to order. 

Duke held the door open for Serenity. "After you, my lady," he said, smiling charmingly. Serenity giggled, and Duke grabbed her hand and led her towards a table. Teá asked what Yugi and Mokuba wanted, and went to get in line and order (and probably whack Joey and Tristan over the head for being immature). Mokuba and Yugi chose a table right next to Duke and Serenity, sliding into the booth on opposite sides. Mokuba started to chatter on about Kaiba Corp's latest project, but as Yugi was listening he noticed Yami in spirit form looking wistfully out the window. It had been a cloudy day already, and it had just started to rain. Yugi internally frowned.

/_Well, there goes our ice skating plans./_ Yami started, and turned to look at him. He smirked briefly in agreement and turned back out towards the rain. Yugi raised a brow.

/_Mon hitoru no boku, what's wrong?/_

_[...He approaches...]_

Yami frowned. \_I don't know. But I have this niggling feeling that something's coming. I can't tell what, or if it's good or bad, but I'm becoming concerned. When ever big things happen to us it's usually life threatening, and we only just came back from the Ceremonial Duel two weeks ago. I just don't want you or our friends to be in danger again so soon._\

_[...The Shadows...]_

Yugi's expression briefly darkened, but then lit up exponentially. /_Whatever happens, Yami, we'll face it together, we always have. I'll always be right here next to you, fighting by your side. You don't have to worry. We keep things straight together!_/ He gave his dark a mental thumbs-up.

_[...are coming...]_

Yami smiled at him. \_Thank you, Yugi. Let's just hope you are right._\

**_$#~|line break|~#$_**

Harry Potter was not a happy teenager. Far from it, in fact. Ever since his godfather, Sirius Black, had died last June at the ministry during the struggle with Voldemort and his Death Eaters, Harry had sunk into a moody depression. And being stuck at the Dursley's for most of the summer had not brightened his spirits. He basically had a month and a half (give or take a week or so) to do nothing but sit in his room and brood about all the things wrong in his life at that moment, and wait impatiently for news of Voldemort's movements from the Daily Prophet or letters from his friends. And to mourn his godfather, whom he sorrily missed and wanted desperately for him to be alive again, even if it was only for a few moments so he could say good-bye. Hedwig, his owl, was also mad at him for not letting her out this whole time because Uncle Vernon blatantly refused to let that 'foul beast prowl around our neighborhood, or send rubbish to 'those' type of retched people with whom you associate', so Harry was forced to keep her locked in her cage, feeding her owl treats, three of which lay ignored at the bottom of her cage, amid the mess of snow-white feathers and owl droppings.

Harry picked up one of said owl treats and held it out to her.

"Come on, Hedwig. I'm sorry I can't let you out, but you still have to eat." She glared at him over her wing, and snatched the treat, nicking his finger. He hissed in pain.

"Sssssss! Dammit, Hedwig!" He rummaged around for a tissue or something to wipe the blood off on while sucking on his bleeding finger. "Come on, it's not that bad! The second we get to leave I'll let you out, okay? Dumbledore's coming tonight, just a little while longer. It's not so bad!" He made do with one of Dudley's old socks, wiping red streaks onto the previously white (well, white-ish) cotton, then adjusted his glasses frowning.

"Who am I kidding, this bloody sucks." He threw the blood-stained sock at his door, and laid down on his bed, the sock hitting the polished wood with a quiet thump. He'd lasted a week and a half dead-bolted in his room before Dumbledore's message came, telling him he'd be picked up Friday night at eleven, and the last remaining days couldn't go any slower. He still had about seven hours to go, and that's only if Dumbledore was actually coming, because he still believed it was too good to be true. There was no way he'd be rescued from Dursley hell after only two weeks; he hadn't even packed yet, believing something would go wrong.

An abused copy of the Daily Prophet lay on his bedside table, sporting giant moving pictures of him, Cornelius Fudge, and Rufus Scrimgeour across its multiple pages. Scrimgeour had succeeded Fudge as Minister of Magic, something Harry was thrilled about, but unsure of what he thought of Scrimgeour, not having met him yet (though it was bound to happen sooner or later, he _was_ the Chosen One). And there was also an article talking about the events of last June, and Voldemort's return. There was even an extra packet to instruct you on how to protect your home against dark forces, though just months ago, a ministry worker was carving "I must not tell lies" into the back of his hand for saying anything even remotely related to "dark" forces. It was sort of ironic. But not really.

_[...He approaches...]_

Harry sighed, and closed his eyes, thinking maybe if he fell asleep Dumbledore would come faster.

_[...The Shadows...]_

He could almost feel the tick of the miniature grandfather clock Aunt Petunia had on the table in the hallway as it counted down the seconds.

_[...are coming...]_

A burst of pain shot through Harry's forehead. He toppled off his bed with a shout, onto the floor, straddling his head between his hands.

_**[…..The Shadows shall not be denied!...]**_

He didn't know what '_The Shadows_' were, but whatever they were, they weren't good.

**_$#~|line break|~#$_**

**A/N: Hey. So this is chapter one. Not much happens, but nothing really ever does in the beginning. It's just supposed to introduce stuff...and stuff. And before you people comment, I'm using a mixture of the dub and the Japanese version of YGO, because I like the use of Aibou, mon hitoru no boku, Koe and Yadonoushi and being in Japan and labels like Memory World and such, but I'm more familiar with the dub names (cept Mutou, of course), because I watched that because Dan Greene's in it, and I LOVE his voice! And his abridged series, but that's different. There might be some references to that, but nothing too extreme. And when I tried reading some other fanfiction with the Japanese names, it took me at least ten chapters and a Google search to figure out who Ryuji Otogi was (the second I found out I felt really stupid). I was gonna start in HP book 5, but I don't really feel like writing about Umbridge. Nothing against her (besides the obvious), I actually really liked her character (makes you really hate her, sign of a good antagonist), but I just don't feel like writing about her. Plus crossovers with Order of the Phoenix have been overdone, there's just so many. Not that there shouldn't be more, I love reading them, I just feel like it's copying off someone else's fanfiction (and when you feel like you're copying off a fanfiction, which is already copying off an original series, you know you're doing something wrong) when I write about it. There have been a couple sixth year ones, but not too many, so I'm going with sixth. Please review! I tried to make the characters as canon as possible! Do they feel like the YGO gang? Is Harry angst-y enough? PLEASE REVIEW! XD**

**P.S. Oh, and I don't own YGO or HP. Or YGOTAS.**

**P.P.S. Oh, and also, all the Millennium item holders still have their items (I'll specify if there are any changes in that area).**


	2. Chapter 2

_**The Assault of the Shadows**_

_**Chapter 2**_

Ryou Bakura was starting to worry. Yugi Mutou and his dark the Pharaoh would be arriving at his apartment in London in no later than two hours, and he still hadn't figured out how he was going to tell them that the Spirit of the Ring was back. He could hide the Ring, but even now he still had trouble controlling his dark, even in his weakened state. It's not like being destroyed along with Zorc and then somehow arriving back in the Ring made him nicer. Just weaker, and less likely to kill Ryou's friends at any given moment. Not that he wouldn't try.

Ryou finished dusting the living room, and went to go begin planning what he was going to make for dinner, to get his mind off the problem. Cooking and cleaning always took his mind off things, even if Koe disliked him even more for it.

\_Yadonoushi._\

Ryou started, dropping the cook book he was flipping through onto the table.

/_Y-yes, Koe?/_

\_Shut the fuck up. Your worrying is annoying._\

/_W-what?/_

The spirit sighed, and phased out of the Ring next to him. Ryou himself fell out of his chair and onto the kitchen floor in fright.

\_Your constant blathering about what the blasted pharaoh thinks is annoying the shit out of me. It's bad enough you agreed to have them come. It's not like the Royal Idiot can do anything about me, I'm chained to the Ring, I'll just keep coming back. The only reason Malik's dark hasn't come back is because he wasn't bonded to the rod, just Malik, and _he_ rejected him. So shut the bloody fuck up so I can sleep. Or at least do it quietly, for Ra's sake. _\

He scowled at Ryou's current position.

\_And stand the bloody hell up, I'm not gonna stab you...again._\

And with that he disappeared back into the Ring, to his soul room. Ryou slowly picked himself up off the ground, and returned to his cook book. That was really all the spirit had been doing since he came back. Hiding out in his soul room, sleeping, or yelling at Ryou. Ryou didn't know if it was just because he was weaker, or because he was no longer associated with Zorc. Every time Bakura glared at him, there seemed to be something missing from his eyes, the dark gleam that usually foretold pain and many hours of being locked unconscious in his soul room. Ryou hoped it meant he was changing for the better, becoming less malicious, but he wasn't getting too carried away. He was still afraid that he was gonna wake up on a Kaiba Corp blimp or in a hospital somewhere, beaten up and not sure of how he got there, with some kind of stolen goods stashed among his belongings.

Well, he'd also said he was going to teach Ryou some more about shadow magic (\_So I won't have too come rescue your pale skinny ass every time you're attacked._\ Even though Ryou knew Bakura's ass was just as pale and skinny as his. And it wasn't like he was _totally_ inept at defending himself. Just mostly.), but so far he hadn't done anything yet. Just kept on brooding in his soul room (what for Ryou had no idea). So Ryou was left to entertain himself until Yugi and Yami got there.

He had been preparing all week for Yugi and Yami's arrival, and registered them both in the tournament (the British Nationals. They got in free, because they were amongst the top 10 duelists in the world, and having them there meant great publicity for the tournament. They'd even made an exception for Yugi, because even though he was Japanese, he was number one. Plus, they sorta invited him in the first place). He'd bought extra groceries, mostly Japanese for Yugi, set up the guest room, and even tried talking to Koe to see if he could be a little nicer, just so it would look more convincing that he wouldn't do anything to endanger Yugi (not that he'd had much success).

There was one thing he was worried about though (besides Koe). For the last week or so, he'd been hearing whispers about 'The Shadows'. He'd asked Koe about them, but he denied hearing anything, said 'shut the fuck up' and rudely slammed his soul room door in Ryou's face. So he did a reading with his Tarot cards, and what he'd found frightened him. Basically, bad things were coming, and soon (**A/N: I have no idea how to do a Tarot card reading**). And three days ago, there had been one terrifying moment when he'd felt a weird burst of energy, and the whispers had escalated to a shout in his head. They'd said 'Do not defy The Shadows' and then the Ring had tried to strangle him. The spirit had taken control and cut the cord with one of the many knives stashed on him (Was it weird that it was Ryou's body, yet Ryou didn't know where he put them?), but that doesn't mean it hadn't shaken Ryou to the core.

He was used to Bakura doing things to him in the past with the Ring, and the Ring's original test, when it had sunk it's five tines into his chest, but that had only been once, and he had passed the Test, hadn't he? And if Bakura came out to cut it off, it couldn't have been him. Of course, what had been even weirder was that the spirit had immediately given him back control, but Ryou knew he'd had enough strength to keep using the body for a while longer. He hoped that was a good sign too, but the Ring had never acted on its own before, beyond the test, or whenever it lit up because it sensed a millennium item nearby. And 'The Shadows'? What did that mean? The shadow realm? Or something else?

Ryou shook his head, dispelling his thoughts, and got back to the cookbook. He had more pressing things to worry about. Besides, if it got really bad, he could always talk to Yugi about it. He was good at talking about those kinds of things.

_Drip._

_Drip._

_[...He approaches...]_

Ryou started, and turned sharply. But he didn't find anything. He shook his head again and flipped to the next page.

_Drip._

_Drip. _

He shivered. Was it getting colder? Maybe he should go put on a sweater. His T-shirt wasn't that thick.

_Drip._

_Drip._

_[...The Shadows...]_

Ryou stood up, abandoning the cookbook. Maybe he really was mental. A glass of water should clear his head. He grabbed a glass from the cupboard above the counter and went to the sink.

_Drip._

"...!"

_CRASH!_

_Drip._

_Drip._

Ryou stumbled backwards, dropping his glass, which shattered on impact with floor.

" K-Koe!"

_[...are coming...]_

The sink overflowed, the crimson liquid dripping onto the floor. Ryou whimpered, trying to back away without getting up. It looked too much like blood for Ryou's liking.

"K-Koe? Th-this isn't funny! B-Bakura!" Ryou looked up, in almost hysterics, his voice cracking, and realized he couldn't see the ceiling anymore, just a sea of black. And that sea seem to be laughing maliciously at him.

"BAKURA!"

"What?" The spirit of the ring phased out, growling. He stopped abruptly, scowling at their surroundings.

_[...do not defy...]_

"Get out."

"W-What?" Bakura seemed to solidify, his blood red eyes glinting like the liquid pooling on the floor.

"I said GET OUT! NOW!" He snarled, Bakura roughly pushing him towards the living room.

_**[…..The Shadows shall not be denied!...]**_

Bakura shoved him over the back of the couch, effectively turning and pulling the Ring off Ryou by it's new cord at the same time. He pointed it at the kitchen door, mumbling something Ryou couldn't understand with Bakura's back to him. Little black tentacles started seeping out around the edges, with blood pooling at the bottom. The Ring flashed, subduing them for a moment, before they started right back up again, but more slowly. Bakura swore, grabbing Ryou by the collar and dragging him towards the back of the house.

_BOOM!_

_CRASH!_

Yami and hikari froze for a second, and Bakura swearing more colorfully, realizing the front door had jut been blown open. Ryou looked like he was about to be sick. They could hear footsteps, large and heavy, like combat boots, and could hear people stomping through the front hallway.

"He said they were here. Split up and find them. NOW!"

"Lumos!"

"Not that way, Goyle, there's obviously no one there. Are you blind?" Bakura pulled Ryou upstairs into his room and locked the door, then the Ring glowed and the door seemed to melt off the wall into a door-colored key on the floor. Bakura grabbed a trench coat from the closet, stuffed the key in it, and ushered Ryou towards the window. Ryou finally regained control of his vocal chords.

"Koe, w-what's happening?" Bakura snarled, glaring, as he opened the window as far as it would go.

"Now's not the time! Just be quiet and wait for my signal to jump." Ryou's stomach plummeted to his shoes.

"Signal to what―?" but Bakura had already vaulted over the sill and was now in the alleyway below. Ryou paled, and rushed to the sill.

"Bakura!" He hissed, a little bit extremely unnerved. "You just jumped from a four story apartment building! Are you insane?" The second that left his mouth he face-palmed. Of course he was insane. This was Bakura.

His dark beckoned to him."Just shut up and jump!" Ryou gulped. He heard the voices and footsteps of the intruders getting louder as they came up to the fourth floor. He crossed his fingers, and slowly edged his leg over the sill.

Bakura hissed at him to go faster. He closed his eyes, took a big breath and pushed himself away from the building. He almost yelped, but he couldn't find his voice again. Bakura caught him before he smashed into the pavement, then roughly dropped him. He replaced the Ring around Ryou's neck and phased back into it, then immediately took over and sprinted out the back end of the alley. Ryou was surprised that he hadn't gone unconscious, but watched through Bakura's eyes instead. From outside you couldn't even tell there was something wrong.

/_Koe, what's going on?/_

\_How the bloody hell should I know?_\

/_But what about Yugi and the Pharaoh?/_

\W_ho cares?_\

/_Koe!_/

\_Why should we care about them?It's not like their house was just invaded!_\

_/What if whoever stormed our apartment was looking for them too? They might want to steal the Millennium Puzzle! We should at least tell them what happened!/_

Bakura scowled, and turned down another alley.

\_Fine, we'll tell the stupid Pharaoh. But only because we have nothing better to do and nowhere else to go._\ Ryou seriously doubted that was the only reason, thinking the other one was something along the lines of that Koe would be mad if someone _else_ stole the puzzle first. Probably because in Bakura's mind the Puzzle was basically already his property. The other thing Ryou was concerned about was why Bakura chose to run away instead of obliterate anyone who dared to trespass on his territory. It wasn't really how Bakura usually worked. Ryou chose to voice this opinion through the mindlink. But Bakura just scowled. Ryou assumed it had something to do with the Shadow Realm sapping his powers, so he didn't press, but he did press something else.

/_Koe, how did you get your own body?/ _Bakura stumbled, but covered it by turning down the adjacent alleyway. He also avoided answering.

/_Koe?...Koe!/_

\_QUIET!_\ Bakura snarled. Ryou started, and mentally retreated, hoping to lock himself in his soul room before Bakura knocked him unconscious. But after a moment, Bakura responded.

\_I'll tell you later._\

Ryou couldn't help but smile.

_**_$#~|line break|~#$_**_

Malik Ishtar couldn't believe he was actually in England. His sister had dragged him here, she was escorting the Ancient Egyptian artifacts that had been previously shown in the Domino City Museum to the British Museum in London, and of course Odion and Malik had to come too. The only high point was that he had heard from Yugi that Ryou had come back to London, that Yugi was coming to visit, and given Malik his address, so he decided to go visit his little buddies from his Japanese adventures.

So far, all he'd succeeded in doing was getting lost. A fact he'd found extremely frustrating. He'd been wandering the city streets and back alleys for hours, but he still hadn't found the Bakura residence.

He kicked a crumpled newspaper with the side of his boot. This was hopeless, there was no way he was going to find Ryou's apartment at the rate he was going, and none of the cabs seemed to want to stop for him. And with the native Londoners giving him furtive looks at his outfit (heaps golden jewelery, lavender sleeveless shirt that showed his midriff, leather pants and spiked boots), not to mention his complexion and hairstyle (at least his was all one color and wasn't put up in a shape you'd find yourself seeing after you've been drugged and hit over the head), he really didn't think it would end well for him to ask directions.

He turned a corner, and was almost bowled over by a white haired man in a long black trench coat jumping out from a side alley. He was knocked into the wall and hit his elbow rather hard, but the man didn't even stop to apologize (or mug him, even). He was about to yell after him, when he realized something. Who did he know that wore a long dark trench coat, and had white hair?

Malik sprinted after him, deciding to move the Millennium Rod from his belt to his hand.

White hair meant Ryou, but trench coat meant Spirit of the Ring.

_**_$#~|line break|~#$_**_

The plane ride from Japan to England had been very long, and Yugi had fallen asleep halfway, but Yami had stayed up the whole way, ogling at everything that caught his eye. It wasn't the first time he'd been on a plane, but it was the first time he really got to enjoy it, without having to think about world threatening plots and crazed psychos obsessed with children's card games (he wasn't obsessed, just professionally interested with skills to match). When they landed, Yami unbuckled the seat belt and grabbed their carry-on bags.

The whole gang had seen him and Yugi off, even Kaiba (on Mokuba's request), and Yugi had even started crying. But now they were here, and they could meet up with Ryou, and start planning their deck for the first round of the tournament.

\_Aibou._\ He mentally nudged Yugi.

\_Aibou, wake up. We're here._\ Yugi yawned through the mindlink.

/_Jet lag and me are not going to agree, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Do you know where we're going from here?/_ Yami chuckled as he removed their luggage from the conveyor belt.

\_Yes. But I'm pretty sure you wanted to be awake to see Ryou when we arrive._\ Yugi mentally smiled at him. Yami chuckled in return, and made his way towards the giant doors that led too the exit of the airport fishing some money out for a cab, trying to remember Ryou's address. He'd almost succeeded in hailing a taxi, when he heard a shout.

"YUGI!" Yami turned, expecting, well not really knowing what to expect really, since the only person he knew in Britain was Bakura, and he said he would greet them at his apartment. So really anything but Bakura. Especially in a trench coat that pretty much shouted 'I'm the Spirit of the Ring!'. Yami's eyeball's popped out of his skull, and he went on the defensive, settling on his royal glare.

"Bakura, I thought I destroyed you along with Zorc!" Bakura gave him a puzzled look, glanced down at himself, and then it dawned on him, and he started pulling off the jacket.

\_Leave it on._\ Ryou started for the fifth time that day, then made his movement to pull his arm out of the sleeve seem like he was dusting something off his shoulder. He smiled at Yami, whom he now realized was in control.

"Oh, sorry about that. It was the first thing I could find with pockets. It's me, Ryou. Not the Spirit of the Ring." He gave him a peace sign, thinking maybe that would help. Yami expression changed to a more calm one, by his eyes still held suspicion. I mean, even with Bakura's track record, you don't usually come back from being obliterated. Bakura only succeeded from coming back from the Shadow Realm, not being destroyed. (even though technically he was already back, not that Yami needed to know that yet).

"Ryou what are you doing here? I though we were gonna meet you at your apartment?" Ryou chuckled nervously, and scratched the back of his head.

"Well, you see, about that..."

"YUGI, RUN! THAT'S THE SPIRIT OF THE RING!" If people hadn't started staring when Ryou ran up (or actually, when Yami walked outside), they were staring now. Both Yami and Ryou turned, to see an out of breath Malik sprinting towards them, fierce determination in his eyes. He tackled Ryou, and pinned him to the ground.

"Yugi, seal him now! I can only hold him for so long!" Yami grabbed Malik by the arms and pulled him off Ryou and helped him up. Malik sat on the ground mystified.

"Malik, it's me Ryou! Not the Spirit of the Ring! I swear!" Malik wasn't as easy to sway as Yami. Ryou suddenly found a shiny gold dagger pressed firmly against his throat.

"And how do I know you're not lying?" Yugi took over and started hissing about showing the Millennium Rod's dagger in public, especially somewhere where there's airport security. Ryou started crying.

"I swear it's me! Please don't stab me Malik, it reminds me of _him_, and how_ he _stabbed me!" Malik's lavender eyes widened, and hastily withdrew the rod, sheathing the dagger. Yugi put an arm around Ryou.

"It's okay Ryou, he's gone, you don't have to worry anymore. Malik's sorry, right _Malik_?" Malik got the tone loud and clear.

"Yeah, I'm sorry Bakura, I didn't mean to make you cry!" It was actually a pretty weird picture, the spiky haired, leather wearing, child-like teenager and the tall, dark-skinned, bejeweled Egyptian blonde trying to comfort the crying almost-albino in an intimidating black trench coat.

Ryou wiped his eyes, sniffling, and tried to smile. "It's okay, I know you were just trying to make sure it wasn't _him_." They both nodded, just happy he wasn't crying _or_ the Spirit. Then Yami took over again, going back to seriousness.

"Ryou, before Malik tackled you, you were saying something about not being able to meet up at your apartment?" Ryou sniffled again, and nodded.

"Oh, uh yeah, I was attacked by shadows and then my house was invaded by some people who blew up my door. So I grabbed the first thing I found with pockets, shoved some of my stuff in it, and ran out the back. Then I sprinted here to intercept you before you took a cab to my apartment." Yami and Malik's jaws dropped.

"...You WHAT?"

_**_$#~|line break|~#$_**_

"**You said they would be there!"**

The shadows cackled like they were insane. _**"I said they might be there, you never know what might happen."**_

"**When we made our deal, we agreed to fully cooperating, you to give me information on these...items, and me to help free you once I get them. So far, I'm the only one holding up my end of the bargain. I don't enjoy one-sided bargains. If things continue I might just search for them on my own, and leave you to wallow in your present state."**

The shadows seemed to snarl, darkening and forming a crimson tint. _**"You would never find them without my help! And the information I gave you was correct at the time I received it. Do not try to cross me, or you will regret it." **_

He chuckled darkly, and if the shadows had eyes they would have narrowed. **"I sincerely doubt that, but be that as it may, this is a more efficient way to do things, providing of course, your information is correct. Hold up your end and I'll hold up mine." **

The shadows started to retreat back into their natural place, as if the presence in them was leaving. _**"Free me, and we shall both be satisfied. Betray me, and you will no longer have a life with which to betray."**_ And the presence was gone.

_**_$#~|line break|~#$_**_

**A/N: Hey y'all! Here's chapter two, a lot longer than chapter one. Much more action-y and plot related, than just introductory. Hope you all like it! Please REVIEW! **

**P.S. And I don't own YGO or HP. Oh, and please tell me if there are any grammar or punctuation or spelling problems, I want to make sure there aren't any, and my spell check isn't that good. I've already had to fix some punctuation errors. So please tell me if you see any!**

**P.P.S. And don't worry Kaiba fans! He'll come in later! I just didn't see him getting mixed up in 'magical' stuff that isn't dragon related.**

**P.P.P.S. REVIEW!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey guys! I was rereading the last chapter to scope out how I'll do this one (and for errors) and I realized I needed to clarify something. The conversation in bold lettering at the end, before the author's note, the presence in the shadows is speaking in italics, and the other guy is the regular bold. I didn't know if that was clear enough, and I wanted to be sure I got it across. When the shadows express emotions, it's the presence's reaction to the other guy. Just so ya know. **

**I don't own YGO or HP. Unfortunately. Wow that's depressing.**

Underlined dialogue = Japanese

/_Italics inside slashes = mindlink/ \= yami /= hikari_

_Underlined italics = Ancient Egyptian_

"_Full italics without slashes in quotations = talking without mindlink in spirit form"_

**The Assault of the Shadows**

**Chapter 3**

Before Yami and Malik could proceed to flip out, Ryou suggested they go somewhere private to talk. Malik suggested taking a cab back to his and his siblings' rented apartment. But when he said the address, Ryou shook his head.

"It's too close to my apartment. For all we know, the people who invaded could still be there. And even if they're not, they could be watching the area. It's too risky." Ryou said the last part in Japanese just to be safe (even though the conversations about the Spirit of the Ring had all been in English). Yami nodded and Malik frowned.

"But where else do we have to go? Its not like we can have private conversation in the middle of an airport," Malik glanced back at the building at their backs as he said so. Ryou put a hand to his chin in thought.

"Well, we could always go back to my old house." Yami stiffened, and Malik looked confused.

"But you just said we shouldn't—," Yami interrupted him.

"He doesn't mean his apartment, Malik. He's talking about his childhood home, right?" Ryou nodded.

"Ever since my mother and sister died, my father and I haven't gone back, but we haven't sold it either, so it wouldn't be any trouble at all to stay there for a while. It's not too far from the city, but it's out in the suburban areas so it's not anywhere near my apartment." Yami nodded, but shock and concern were still present in his eyes, a burning curiosity barely kept in check. Malik shrugged, and hailed a taxi, mumbling something about Japanese people and their serious problem with getting in stuck in giant life-threatening fiascoes all the time. Yugi took back over and put a hand on Ryou's arm.

"Are you okay?" Yugi's large amethyst orbs were filled with concern for his friend. Ryou smiled weakly at him.

"I'm fine, Yugi. I'm just glad I made it here in time to warn you before you came to my apartment." Yugi matched his smile, but there was still concern.

"Are you sure you'll be okay going back there?" Ryou's smile faltered, but he managed to keep it from disappearing completely.

"It's our only option right now. I'll be fine." He was certain that was a lie. In actuality he was far from fine, his stomach tying itself in knots. He hadn't set foot in that house since before his father sent him to Japan, all memories associated with that time was more pain than picture. The house, when the whole family had been there, had felt alive and comforting, but for those few days after the accident, it had felt empty, foreboding, and much too large and cruel. Ryou was so caught up in his thoughts he didn't hear Malik calling them over to a cab, he just let Yugi's hand guide him. The driver asked them where to, and Yugi had elbow him in the ribs before he came out of it.

"Ryou! What's the address?" Ryou's eyes widened and his mouth formed and 'o'.

"Oh! Um, number 3 Magnolia Crescent in Little Whinging, down in Surrey."

_**_$#~|line break|~#$_**_

He could not understand it. The place had been trashed, the front door blasted open, furniture overturned, papers and other things scattered across the floor, and traces of magical residue, but there were no bodies, and nothing that looked even remotely like it had stored something valuable, magical or otherwise. The only place devoid of chaos was the kitchen, where the only thing unusual was a small water glass in pieces on the floor. He could understand the kitchen being clean, there wasn't anywhere besides the cabinets that you could hide something, and all the cabinets had glass doors, so you could see right in them. The rest of the house had been torn apart, but besides some traces of magic, mostly coming from the front door, it looked like a perfectly regular muggle break in.

"Kingsley! Come upstairs, we might have found something!" The ministry had gotten a tip that Death Eaters had invaded a muggle apartment building by a magical tenant (some wizards like the muggle lifestyle), and the aurors had been sent into investigate, Kingsley Shacklebolt in charge. The auror made his way toward the upper level of the apartment through the wreckage, the others that had been downstairs with him trailing behind. He was greeted by the small form of Nymphadora Tonks, her pink hair unmistakable. Her and another, stoutly auror were standing in the middle of the hallway, looking thoughtfully at a blank wall. Kingsley gave her a look that she had his attention.

"I don't think this wall is part of the original apartment. It has a weird aura about it, magical, but not dark." Kingsley nodded, and chanted a few words. A blue light burst from his wand, encompassing the wall in a scan-like manner. For a brief moment, a black-golden sheen appeared on the surface of the wall, highlighting upon a rectangle like shape about the size of a door, before it disappeared. Kingsley studied the wall for a moment, then walked down the hallway and turned a corner, Tonks and the others following. He was facing a wall that connected to the magical one when he recited another spell, a door forming in the middle of it. He pulled it open, and found...an average, muggle bedroom. He had to slide a dresser out of the way before he could enter, but when he did, nothing seemed unusual. Well, besides the door less part. He performed another scan spell, but found nothing other than the original magical wall. He tried to break the spell on it, but it would not budge. Any spell that hit it just fizzled into nothing upon impact. He frowned. In the room itself, the only thing amiss was that some clothes were pulled off their hangers and thrown on the floor, the closet door open, and one of the windows was left ajar. He looked out of it, finding nothing other than an ordinary city alley. He bit his lip.

There was nothing here. From the outside, it didn't even look like there was a break in. the only things of interest were the magical residue and the wall, which could not be broken. It was just a ransacked apartment, which led Kingsley to believe that it was a someone, not a something, that was the objective of this mission. But who, and what did they have that Death Eaters were so interested in?

Kingsley led Tonks and the other aurors out of the apartment, telling most to return to the ministry with their findings. He took Tonks and left for the Order of the Phoenix's new temporary headquarters, to report to Dumbledore. Despite their lack of leads on what the Death Eaters wanted, it was definitely something Dumbledore needed to know. Who was the target, and why was the invasion done so professionally that none of the non-magical residents had noticed? Death Eaters never worked like that. Just who was it that Voldemort wanted?

_**_$#~|line break|~#$_**_

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

Harry groggily opened his eyes, a hand reaching out to find his alarm clock, finally ceasing the annoying beeping alarm that was going off. He rubbed his eyes and sat up, readjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose. His eyes wandered to the clock, widening and then deflating as he read the time as 10:00. He swore he'd set it for 10:58. Only an hour to go before he could leave this hellhole. He really hoped Dumbledore would come. If not he was going to...well, do something anyway. He was too groggy to come up with anything interesting.

Hedwig was asleep in her cage, which was unusual for an owl at this time of night, but Harry dismissed it as boredom, which is what happened to him too. He stood and walked towards the window, weakly hoping Dumbledore had arrived an hour earlier, doomed from the start. As he suspected, he hadn't, so Harry sat in an adjacent chair and scanned his room. There was some cold soup in a bowl right inside his door, having probably been placed through the slot by Petunia, for his dinner. Harry ignored it, too lazy to get up, and decided to watch the street instead.

Privet Drive stretched out both right and left from number four, Magnolia Crescent joining up to it, almost directly across the street from Harry's position, but about one house down to the right. Harry rubbed his eyes again, because he though he saw a dark-colored speck turning onto the far end of Magnolia. It wasn't his mind finally going crazy, but a taxi cab, stopping at one of the houses down Magnolia Crescent. Harry watched as the three weirdest people he had ever seen exited the taxi, the one with stark white hair paying. For one mental second he thought it was Dumbledore, but logic killed that idea, Harry knowing that Dumbledore probably never rode taxis, being Dumbledore. He squinted, to see if he knew them, but the most he could see was their hair color (colors really. Did that one have blonde, black, _and_ purplehair?) and all the gold the blonde one was wearing. The taxi drove away, and the three made their way towards a house on the right side of the street (Harry's right), one of the odd numbered ones, but it was too far away to tell which one. All the houses looked similar.

Harry wondered who they were. He'd never seen them before, and he was sure he knew, or at least could recognize the appearance of, all the residents of Privet Drive, Wisteria Walk and both Magnolias (Road and Crescent). And he was pretty sure none of them looked like that.

The unknown three went inside, and Harry stared at the front door they disappeared through for a good two minutes, before shaking his head and going back to drowning in boredom. He looked at the clock again. 10:06. It was going to be a long hour.

_**_$#~|line break|~#$_**_

Yami was pacing back and forth across the musty carpet, Malik standing in the door way, leaning against the frame. Ryou was seated uncomfortably on the dusty couch, the cause of both of the others' unease.

"Did you get a look at them, or maybe recognize any of their voices?" Ryou shook his head, Yami's stare causing him to fidget.

"No, I escaped out the back before they could see me, and I heard the name Goyle, but other than that I didn't hear or recognize anything specific." Ryou felt like Yami had become a father figure, and Ryou had just been caught doing something illegal, Malik the disappointed mother off to the side. It was very weird, and made him remember his father's look when he'd done something bad when he was a child, specifically directly after the accident, like it had been his fault. All it did was make him feel entirely worse, and he fidgeted uncomfortably again under Yami's gaze.

"Are you sure? Nothing at all?" Marik cleared his throat.

"Stop drilling him, you're making him feel insecure. Besides, we have a more pressing problem." Malik turned to Ryou. "You said the _shadows attacked_ you?" Emphasis on shadows and attacked. Ryou stiffened, then nodded and looked down.

"It's actually the second time." Both Yami and Malik's heads snapped up. Malik stood up straight and walked into the actual room.

"What do you mean the _second_ time? There was a _first_?" Ryou started, mentally hitting himself. He hadn't told them about the Spirit of the Ring, let alone having the Ring back, so how could he tell them he was getting strangled by the Ring, and then Bakura had to cut it off?

\_Idiot. Avoid revealing anything about me or the Ring to the Pharaoh. It would cause unnecessary problems in the future.\_

_/What are you planning, Bakura? Why can't I just tell them? They're my friends!/_ Bakura erupted into hysterical laughter.

_\Friends? You think they're your friends? The second you tell them I'm back they'll treat you like the plague. The only reason they come to see you is to make sure the psycho in the Ring they're afraid of isn't back and out to kill them. They care nothing for you. You're just my vessel and nothing more. Think otherwise and all you'll find is pain. This whole time, the only things they've talked about is me and getting attacked by people who might want the Millennium Items. You're nothing to them and you'll always just be a thorn in their side for housing me.\ _

_/That's not true! They both came to visit me! And it's only rational they're worried about you, you've tried to kill them on several occasions! You're just envious that I have friends and you don't, and you can't deal with that! Why should I listen to you?/ _

Bakura snarled. \_SILENCE!_ _YOU KNOW NOTHING! Why in my right mind would I be jealous of you? You life is trivial, and you are blind to the truth! The second they find out I'm still alive, you will become little more than a liability, and my presence will take priority over yours. Yes, they'll hesitate, and try other methods, but as soon as they realize it, they will destroy you in order to destroy me. A means to an end, a small sacrifice to save their perfect world, that's all you are. And if you refuse to accept it now, you will regret it that you didn't when they come to kill you. In the end, the only road to survival is to follow me, and me alone.\_

_/That__—__that's not...not true! I swear it isn't! You're just lying to get me to believe you! Well I won't fall for it! They are my friends, and to believe anything else is to betray them!\_

Bakura continued to laugh. \_You follow them so blindly that you'd never betray them, but they'd easily betray you to get rid of me. Believe what you will, but you still know you cannot tell them. They would prosecute you. Besides, once you do, they'd probably never trust you again, for going two whole weeks without telling them, and inviting the Pharaoh's vessel to stay with you even though you house me. Oh Yadonoushi, you are so naive. Tell them, and tighten the noose around your neck, or hide me, and prolong your suffering, even if it would be safer for you in the end. Which will you choose, I wonder?\ _Bakura laughed maniacally, his laughter creepily fading as the mind link closed.

Ryou shivered, his gut twisting as he knew at least part of Bakura's twisted logic was right. He couldn't tell them, at least not yet. To do so would be to sign his own death warrant. His best option was to wait until Bakura did something to blow his own cover and feign innocence, like he'd just shown up. He hated the idea, but for now it was all he could do to keep his friendship with Yugi, at least. Malik would probably be more forgiving, having been on Yami's bad side before, but Yami _would_ prosecute him.

"I...uh...it...um...a week ago or so, I started hearing whispers about '_The Shadows_', and...it seemed like the shadows were watching me where ever I went, especially at night. Then, a couple days ago, the whispers had started again, and then they shouted '_Do not defy the Shadows!_' and my...my necklace started to...to strangle me. I had to cut it off,... with a butter knife." Yugi had phased back out in spirit form, and his hands were at his mouth, his eyes tearing. Malik looked pale, and Yami had stiffened, the only emotion he showed was in his eyes, concern and shock.

Ryou gulped, then shakily continued.

"And...e-earlier this evening, I was sitting in my apartment, at my kitchen table, when I felt it getting colder. I swore I heard more whispering, but the second I tried to pinpoint it's source, it stopped. I thought I was just imagining things, I mean, maybe I really had gone mental, it wouldn't be surprising really, with what's happened in my life," Ryou trailed off, but Yugi shook his head.

"_You're not crazy Ryou! We'd know if you were! Unless we're all crazy._" Yugi smiled weakly, trying to diffuse tension, but the only response was a brief chuckle from Malik. Yami's face was a mask, devoid of expression, looking down at the floor so no one could see his eyes. But he motioned with his hands for Ryou to continue.

"I thought, maybe a drink...a drink of water would help me clear my head. So I grabbed a glass and went to fill it...in the sink..." Ryou paled, even more than he already was, and shook more than ever.

"The sink...I backed up as fast as I could, but...it just kept coming, pooling on the floor. It made me sick, all that...all that _blood." _Yugi squeaked, and hugged Yami's waist for comfort, his dark putting an arm around him. The sight made Ryou's heart plummet from his throat to his feet, from the guilt, but mostly from the fact that Bakura would never, ever comfort him like that, even if he totally and entirely went along with everything he wanted. Even when this had actually happened.

Malik noticed Ryou wilting, and sat down next to him, and put_ his _arm around him, smiling. Ryou started, and stared at Malik, who beamed all the more. Ryou smiled. He was right, they really were his friends, and cared about him. Bakura had just been trying to scare him. Yet Ryou still had this niggling feeling that there had been a layer of truth underneath the deception.

Ryou finished up his story. "There was all that blood, and when I looked up, I couldn't see the ceiling anymore. It was covered in shadows, cackling at my fear. I dropped my glass, backed out into my living room and shut the door, but the tentacles of shadow tried to seep around the edges of the door, the blood pooling at the bottom. I ran towards the back of my apartment, and was at the foot of the stairs when I heard a small explosion. My front door had been blown open, but luckily for me, you can't see the stairs from my front hall, so I ran up them and into my room, and locked the door. I grabbed the first thing I could find from my closet, being this trench coat, and filled it with some cash and other small things, and escaped down my fire escape. And then I ran, not stopping until I found you." He nodded towards Yami and Yugi, who nodded in turn. Malik cleared his throat again.

"Yeah, that must be true, because you didn't even stop running when you knocked me into a brick wall." Ryou gasped.

"I'm sorry! I was so intent on finding Yugi in time I guess I didn't notice! Are you okay?"

Malik patted him on the shoulder. "I'm fine. Just a small bruise. Just next time, run _around _me, okay?" Ryou smiled and nodded. Yami grunted.

"Well that's all well and good, but why would the shadows attack you like that? You don't have the Ring anymore, or really anything magical at all, and you've come in contact with nothing magical since you saw the Ceremonial Duel, which for that you were just a spectator. And even if you had the Ring, you had passed the Test to become a bearer, so unless you subconsciously lost some sort of Shadow Game, there'd be no reason for anyone to attack you, shadow related or otherwise. Unless they decided to mug you of course. By why go through all the trouble of trying to scare you with shadows and whispers for a week? It makes no sense." Yami had resumed pacing, Yugi watching him worriedly. Each time he'd mentioned the Ring it'd made Ryou feel even more horrible, like he'd just joined Bakura's side or something. It's not like he didn't want to be on the same side as Bakura, he'd just rather have Bakura join their side, instead of Ryou joining his. It just felt wrong, and he hated lying to his friends about something this important.

Malik agreed. "And besides, why would they attack Ryou? It'd make more sense for them to go after you and Yugi, or even me, Odion, and Ishizu, rather than chase around after him. You and Yugi have the Millennium Puzzle, the most powerful of the Items, and my clan has all the information on the items and the Shadow Games that can't be found anywhere else. The only reason I can think of that'd they go after Ryou for is to get to us, but they'd have to know Ryou knows us and is close with us. And it seems like a long-winded way of going about things, especially if they can bend the Shadows to their will."

Ryou spoke up. "But who would know about the items anyway? They'd have to know we have or had the items to come after us in the first place. Maybe it isn't the items they want?" Yami seemed to consider it for a moment.

"But what else do we have that's valuable to other people, that they can achieve by scaring, capturing, or killing us?" Ryou was stumped there.

Malik raised a hand. "Maybe it isn't the items they want, but us? Think about it, we've all made a lot of enemies, and I bet Ryou has a bunch he doesn't even know about from when the Spirit took over all the time. Maybe the items have nothing do to with this at all."

Ryou looked down, his bangs covering his eyes. Just thinking about that made him shiver. There could be people out there he didn't even know who wanted him dead, all because of Bakura. He _hated_ that, but it scared him too much to even think in that direction.

"And maybe, it might not even be a _person _at all. What if it really is just the Shadows?"

Malik chuckled nervously. "Be serious, Ryou. The Shadows may be sentient, they always have been, it's written in the scriptures about a billion times, but they wouldn't try to kill the bearers _they_ chose. It would solve nothing. They wouldn't gain anything from it unless we lost a Shadow Game. And as far as I know, you haven't really played a Shadow Game of your own will as of yet. That was all Bakura." Ryou's insides squirmed.

"Could we please stop mentioning him? It's making me sick, just remembering." It was, but it was more disturbing that what Bakura had said was true, that all they talked about was Bakura himself and the Millennium Items. Yugi sat down next to him and tried to hug him, but his arms just fell right through him. That actually made him want to throw up, the feeling of Yugi's arms _inside_ him felt weird and made him queasy. Though he did appreciate the gesture.

Ryou paled, turning slightly green. "I think I need a moment," he rushed quickly, and then practically flew to the closest bathroom, up the stairs. He slammed the door behind him, and barely made it to the toilet.

"_Ryou!_" that was the last thing Ryou heard before the contents of his stomach exited his body through the wrong end. After that the only things he could focus on was his heaving, and Bakura's sadistic chuckling in the back of his mind, Ryou knowing that it meant that Bakura was reveling in the fact the Ryou had acknowledged he was right, even if he didn't say it aloud. And the fact that it made Ryou physically sick just made it funnier.

\_I'm right. You know I'm right. And you can do nothing to change it.\_

Ryou couldn't respond, even mentally, his physical worries taking priority over Bakura and his comments.

"Ryou! Are you alright?" Yugi's voice sounded muffled, what with the heaving and the door in between them. The heaves started to go dry, Ryou having emptied the contents of his stomach entirely. He sat back against the wall, finally able to stop. He was sick, sick of Bakura, sick of himself, sick of this whole damn mess. And it had only started a mere five hours ago. He just wasn't made out for this kind of thing.

"I-I'm fine, Yugi. I just got a little dizzy, is all. Just give me a minute." There was a long pause, but then he heard a light 'hai' from Yugi, and his retreating footsteps. Ryou wanted to bang his head against the wall and groan. If he couldn't make it past the first ten minutes after telling a lie, how was he going to manage indefinitely? He knew he was going to have to say something eventually, but preferably when Memory World wasn't so fresh in their minds. Ryou wasn't sure he'd last that long.

He picked himself up off the floor, and walked over to the faucet. He switched it on and splashed water on his face, looking up to find a towel, catching his reflection in the mirror and faltering.

He looked horrible. His face was gaunt, pale and green tinted, the water giving it an inhuman look. He hadn't turned the lights on in his rush, and the only illumination came from the moonlight filtering in through the window, casting sinister shadows across his face. He looked like a badly made zombie from a crappy, overpriced, horror movie that only comes out on DVD. He grabbed a dusty towel hanging on the wall, and rubbed his face red, tears mingling with the water from the sink. He heard a disgusted snort in the back of his head.

\_You're so pathetic._\ Ryou ignored it, and turned away from the mirror, exiting the bathroom. He made his way towards the stairs.

"What if...what if it's him?" Ryou stopped at the top of the stairs, lingering in the darkness.

"No, we destroyed him. I'm sure of that."

"But Yami, it is a possibility. I mean, Shadows? Blood? It's very likely." Ryou could tell Malik's voice was trembling.

"We can't be sure. We haven't seen anything for ourselves yet, so we have no evidence. The only thing we can do is watch Ryou, for now."

"I just hope he's okay. He doesn't seem to be coping well." Yugi, always concerned.

"Just give him a bit. It's been a rough day for him. And even if _he has_ returned, we've defeated him before, and we can do it again."

"Fine, we'll just watch Ryou for anything weird or anymore attacks. But if I'm right..." Malik trailed off, but Ryou had heard enough. His tears had resurfaced. They were talking about Bakura, he just knew it. He backed up, and ran down the hall, choosing a random door and going inside. He flew in a quickly shut the door behind him, leaning against it. Tears were streaming down his face.

He was right. Bakura was right. All they cared about was Koe. They didn't care about him, just Yugi did, and he would be quickly overruled by Malik and Yami when it came down to it. Curiously, Bakura chose not to speak, remaining silent while Ryou cried.

It did nothing to cry. He still couldn't tell them, and he couldn't change anything. But it didn't make it any easier. He wiped his eyes, and finally looked at the room he had entered. And his heart stopped.

In their haste, Ryou hadn't really had the chance to feel apprehensive about coming back to his childhood home. The others had been more concerned about the attack, and Ryou had been worrying about covering up for Bakura. But this changed everything.

It was Amane's room.

Amane was the name of his little sister. His twin, actually. She and their mother had died in a car accident when Ryou was little, and soon after Ryou and his father had left London, his father going off to Egypt for his job in archeology and sending Ryou off to live by himself with funds mailed to him every so often. Once Bakura came, and started trapping his friends in Monster World game pieces (Ryou's favorite Table-Top-Role-Playing-Game (TTRPG)), Ryou moved around a lot, switching schools, towns, cities, regions, even countries to get away from Bakura's trail of comatose victims, eventually landing in Japan at Domino High. Ryou used to write letters to her, before his life became overly complicated with Duel Monsters, Millennium Items, and Egyptian spirits, and he felt a pang of guilt for neglecting to write for at least 3 years.

Ryou was finding it hard to breathe. Just seeing this room brought everything back. To a time when their family was whole, his father would actually talk to him, and he was surrounded by people who loved and cared for him, people he loved and cared for.

"...A-Amane..." His eyes were tearing up again, and he sat down on the floor beside her bed. Everything in the room screamed Amane, but it felt more like they were screaming at him, like it was his fault she was gone, that she could never come back here, to her beautiful room illuminated by moonlight. He laid his head on his arms, leaning on her bed. Tears were streaming down his face, his eyes the only thing visible above his arms.

"...what should I do?...what would you do...Amane?..."

In his vulnerability, he didn't notice the room getting steadily darker...and colder...

_**_$#~|line break|~#$_**_

**A/N: Cliffhanger! I feel so bad for Ryou. He's probably going to need ten times as much therapy as he did when this fic started, and even then he probably needed a lot. Wow, this is a lot more Ryou-centric than I anticipated. I might have to reset the character I put up in the summary, because right now it says Yugi. But Yugi is gonna get his screen time too (well, fic time) so don't worry. The beginning conflict just happens to be mostly Ryou. I made Bakura slightly more mean, but c'mon, he had to take his anger out somewhere. He doesn't really have too much power right now. And I find it hard to believe his personality would do an entire 180 just because he was destroyed along with Zorc. Personally I don't think being destroyed is pleasant. Yeah, he's not so sadistic anymore, but he also has no power, so he's sorta bitter up in there. Give him a break. This chapter is at least twice as long as the last one. And I'm probably going to start writing the next one right now. I've noticed that when I write, each time I come back, each new installment is much longer than the last, unless I hit a writer's block, get bored, or something bad happens. I really hope I don't end up writing 20,000 word chapters. That'd just be confusing and take _forever._ The most I've done is around 8,000, maybe a little higher, but that was a different story. Plus my writing has improved _a lot_ since then. Well, I hope you guys liked it. X3**

**REVIEW! XD**

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	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I really liked the cliffhanger at the end of Ryou's extremely long section (it takes up more than half the chapter, and that's without the little separated part in the beginning!). Yay! More Harry in this part! He won't be so bored anymore! Whoops! Foreshadowing! I'll shut up now. Here's chapter four.**

**The point of view changes a lot to get this from a bunch of different angles, so try to keep up. I'll try to make it as clear as I can, but you guys have to use some of your own common sense to tell whose brain you're in. Please tell me in a review if any point needs more clarification, but otherwise, ENJOY! **

**I don't own YGO or HP. I'd have a lot more money if I did.**

Underlined dialogue = Japanese

/_Italics inside slashes = mindlink/ \= yami /= hikari_

_Underlined italics = Ancient Egyptian_

"_Full italics without slashes in quotations = talking without mindlink in spirit form_"

"_Latin in italics with quotations = spells"_

**The Assault of the Shadows**

**Chapter 4**

"Fine, we'll just watch Ryou for anything weird or anymore attacks. But if I'm right..." Malik shuddered. "I just don't know what I'd do if he took my body again. I wouldn't have anyone left with pieces of my soul still in them, so I'd probably be lost to the Shadows."

"Marik is not the one doing this, Malik! He's a part of you, but a part you rejected and a part that we destroyed! If he'd come back, don't you think the first place he'd show up is somewhere near you? You're the only one who could house him without the body itself rejecting him, not just the soul, so don't you think you'd notice if he was back?"

"He did! He attacked Ryou while both me and you were in England! For all we know, he wanted to use Ryou as a hostage or kill him in front of us or something!" Malik sat down on the bottom step with his head in his hands. Spirit form Yami seemed to be considering this, while Yugi sat down next to Malik.

"We don't know yet, Malik. Your suggestion is just as much a possibility as Bakura or Zorc coming back. We can't assume anything, it's too dangerous. All we know is that Ryou has been targeted. We have to keep an eye on him so he's safe, and be there if there's any more attacks." Yami's deep baritone had softened. Malik lifted his face to see Yugi and Yami staring down at him, both smiling determinedly.

"And if anything happens to you, we'll be right there beside you to stop it. We won't let Marik hurt you. You're our friend, and we'll stick by you. And Ryou too." Yugi's grin was a mile wide.

Malik smiled meekly. "Thanks guys." They both nodded.

"Now lets go get Ryou, make sure he's oka―!" Yugi was interrupted by a blood-curdling scream. They bolted up the stairs.

"RYOU!"

_**_$#~|line break|~#$_**_

10:55. C'mon, C'mon, C'MON! Why couldn't time go faster? Harry had long ago (maybe about five minutes ago) figured out that banging your head against the wall was more trouble than it was worth. But he still had the urge to do it. Out of boredom, he'd even packed his trunk (not that he'd really unpacked in the first place) and cleaned out Hedwig's cage (some more of Dudley's sock's weren't off-white anymore. He really needed to get a first aid kit for his room). And he still had five minutes to go. Five minutes of nothing but utter boredom, fighting against the urge to let Hedwig actually kill him, banging his head against the wall, staring at the clock, blood-curdling screams, cold sou―Wait, what?

Harry's head snapped up. Another scream, slightly more muffled, penetrated the darkness, and he grabbed his wand and ran to the window, searching for a source. It sounded close, but he couldn't see anything suspicious. He needed to get out there and find it. He looked for an escape route. The Dursley's had barred up his window again, and bolted his door shut with at least ten locks, maybe more, and he really didn't see himself blasting open walls. Plus, unless he was attacked, he couldn't use his magic. But someone out there was in trouble, and he could help (whatever popped into his head when confronted with the situation would have to do).

He scanned the room again, his eyes landing on the bowl of soup. Well, directly behind it, anyway. He scrambled to the door, and moved the bowl out of his way. He might just fit. He pulled the large flap in his door up as far as it could go, and crawled underneath. He had some trouble with his shoulders and his hips, but once they were through, he was free. Thank you, Uncle Vernon and his use of a doggy door instead of a plate-sized flap. Not that being locked in there in the first place had helped, but nobody needed details.

He scrambled down the stairs, his walrus of an Uncle himself staring flabbergasted at him from the living room couch.

"What the bloody hell are you doing out of you're room, boy?" Harry froze, and frowned.

"Didn't you hear the screams just now?" Uncle Vernon seemed to puff up even more.

"Screams? What the bloody hell are you talking about? Get back up in your room this instant before I shut you back under the stairs!" Aunt Petunia was looking snootily over his shoulder. Harry was puzzled. Hadn't they heard them? They'd been as clear as day to him. He shook his head, and opened the front door. As he ran out, Vernon snarled.

"GET BACK HERE YOU BLOODY INGRATE! OR I'LL―!" But that's all Harry heard before a shout, this time, rang out through the night. It had called something like 'are-you', or Rio, or something. Harry still couldn't see anything weird, and he turned back to Uncle Vernon as he ran towards the sound. He hadn't seemed to hear anything. But Harry heard it clear as day, and could tell it wasn't just his head, and the night was too warm to be dementors. He kept running.

_**_$#~|line break|~#$_**_

The Shadows were everywhere. They had Ryou pinned up against the wall next to the door, moving slowly up his torso towards his throat.

\_LET ME IN CONTROL!\ _Let him? Bakura had never asked before. The Shadows cackled, a red tint cascading down them, giving them an even more sinister look. Ryou's terror eliminated all rational though.

\_YOU HAVE TO CALM DOWN DAMMIT! I ONLY HAVE SO MUCH POWER, AND I CAN'T TAKE OVER UNLESS YOU LET ME! SO DO WHAT I TELL YOU AND __**GIVE ME CONTROL!**__\_

_**[...The Shadows...are coming...] **_

The tentacles slithering up his arms were like serrated blades, digging in until he bled, the blood seeming to be absorbed by the shadows, almost as if they were drinking it in. Ryou screamed.

_**[…...He approaches...soon he will arrive...]**_

"RYOU!" Yami and Malik were banging against the door.

/...I-if I let you out...t-they'll see.../

\_YADONOUSHI, FUCKING LET ME OUT! YOU'RE GOING TO DIE, DAMMIT!\ _

The door flew off it's hinges, and hit the wall with a large CRACK, leaving marks on the wall as it slid to the floor. Yami and Malik, both with the Wadjet glowing on their foreheads, bolted into the room, Millennium Items glowing fiercely, decks in their hands.

"What th―!"

"RYOU!" The Shadows hissed, tentacles leaping of the floor towards them like lightning. Malik chanted some unfamiliar words, and a black golden shield erected itself around the the three of them, disconnecting the tentacles around Ryou from the rest, causing them to disintegrate. Ryou slid to the floor, arms bleeding profusely, sending painful jolts up his nerves, making it hard to concentrate on anything else.

"Yami, grab him, and bring him downstairs, quickly! I don't know how long this'll hold!" The shield was starting to crack. Yami picked him up gingerly by the waist and carried him out wincing as Ryou cried out. Malik kept the Rod out in front of him, the Wadjet's glow on it flickering as he strained to hold back the shadows. He backed out of the room and pulled the the shield with him, so it filled the vacant doorway. He chanted some more words and hieroglyphics appeared on it, but even with the reinforcement, the shield continued to crack. Cracks started appearing on the wall as well, and Malik abandoned his post to sprint to the stairs. He jumped off the landing, a split second before the Shadows exploded out of the hallway behind him. The front door was wide open, Yami already running down the street towards a small intersection between streets, and Malik bolted through it, the Shadows snarling on his heels, a deep crimson mixed with a sinister black.

CRACK! CRACK!

"RYOU!" The tentacles had burst out of the front door, snatching Yami and Malik around the waist and snapping them into lamp-posts, pinning them there, Malik on one side of the street, Yami the other, the Shadows covering everything up to their eyes, which burned with anger and terror at the same time. The whole street turned dark, the only light sources being the moonlight, the Millennium Items and the glowing Wadjet eyes on Yami and Malik's foreheads. Ryou lifted his head from the ground where he lay, from where Yami had dropped him, the blood from the lacerations on his arms pooling on the ground.

The shadows slithered across the ground toward him, almost chuckling. He tried to back up, but his hands and feet couldn't find a hold on the ground in the puddle of his blood, and the second he moved his arms he felt excruciating pain, causing him to cry out.

\_**I DON'T CARE IF THEY SEE ME! SWITCH WITH ME NOW!**_\

"_EXPECTO PATRONUM!_" Ryou's head snapped back, a black-haired kid with glasses and clothes three sizes too big for him was pointing a stick at the Shadows, a look of determination in his eyes. From the stick burst a glowing stag, which ran passed Ryou and tried to charge the Shadows. The blackness just seemed to rise and swallow it whole, it's luminescence vanishing inside the sea of snarling yet laughing tentacles. The kid looked stunned for about ten seconds, before he started firing colored bursts of light from the stick at the Shadows. They growled, the lights fizzling on impact, and pinned him up against a tree.

The Shadows resumed their slow, teasing slither towards Ryou, who knew moving would be futile, judging by the speed they'd pinned the other's with.

\_**LET ME OUT DAMMIT!**_\ Bakura was snarling and swearing in the back of his mind, and Ryou tried as hard as he could to switch, but his fear had paralyzed his ability to concentrate. He had the resources to do absolutely nothing. Bakura had the shadow powers, not him, and Ryou couldn't concentrate enough to switch. He could do nothing.

The Shadows pounced, circling his throat and lifting him off the ground by his neck. The tentacles around his windpipe changed into hands, growing backwards into arms, a torso, a head, and a body, all the color of Shadows. Now he was being strangled to death by a Shadow person.

A Shadow person that looked exactly like Bakura. Ryou's eyes widened, and tried to get the hands to release his neck.

/...Koe?.../

\_**THAT BASTARD IS NOT ME! LET ME OUT SO I CAN KILL HIS ASS FOR DARING TO IMPERSONATE THE KING OF THEIVES!**_\

'That bastard' smirked, his teeth showing, his canines glinting maliciously in one of the only remaining light sources, the moonlight. He dropped Ryou, laughing maniacally, Ryou landing in a heap in his pool of blood, gasping for breath.

_**[I have found you, little Ryou.]**_ What little breath Ryou had recovered escaped him.

_**[Give me the Ring]**_ The Ring? Why would he want the Ring? The Puzzle was stronger, and Yugi and Yami were right over there, pinned to a pole. Ryou looked up at them, Yami looking as furious as ever. Bakura spoke to him through the mindlink again.

\_**DO NOT LET HIM HAVE IT! HE'S IS NOT WORTHY TO EVEN LAY HIS DISGUSTING EYES UPON THE MAGNIFICENCE OF THE THE RING!**_\

_**[Do it or your friends die] **_Pure terror jolted through him. Shadow Bakura laughed.

_**[But they aren't really your friends, are they, if you would lie to them and horde a malicious spirit inside you against their will. You'd probably be better off if I killed them now.]**_ Ryou's head snapped back to Yami, but the Pharaoh's expression hadn't changed. Could they not hear him? As he watched, the Shadows around both Yami and Malik seemed to grow sharper and more sinister, and they surged inward, muffled screams ringing out.

"...Don't touch them!" Shadow Bakura's smile widened, but the Shadows did stop, .

_**[You're so quick to defend, but I doubt the would do the same for you if they knew about your little tenant. They'd probably try to kill you on the spot.]**_

"...You don't know them!... They're my friends!" It hurt so much to talk, even to move, and he had to take long pauses between each thing he said. The other's looked confused, confirming Ryou's suspicion that they couldn't hear Shadow Bakura's half of the conversation. Shadow Bakura threw his head back in laughter.

_**[Don't know them? In fact, I know them quite well. And I know exactly how they'd react the moment they found out you're harboring the Ring. They care nothing for you, with them all you'll find is pain, and you'll only be a thorn in their side for housing that spirit.]**_

_Flashback_

_\They care nothing for you. You're just my vessel and nothing more. Think otherwise and all you'll find is pain. This whole time, the only things they've talked about is me and getting attacked by people who might want the Millennium Items. You're nothing to them and you'll always just be a thorn in their side for housing me.\_

_End_

That sounded eerily like what Bakura had said to him a mere half hour before. And they were both right. His friends only cared about Koe. Koe, Koe, Koe. That's all they ever talked about. Not one thing about how he'd been doing, what his life was like, it was all Koe.

No! No it wasn't. Stop it! Thinking like that would get him nowhere. They were his friends, they cared about him. Mokuba, Kaiba, Teá, Tristan, Joey, Duke, Malik, Yami, and Yugi. They all cared. And he wouldn't let some Shadow _thing_ tell him otherwise.

_**[If you just give me the Ring now, all your problems would be gone. Yugi and Malik wouldn't treat you like a bomb set to go off at any moment,you wouldn't have to deal with any of this, and best of all, the spirit would go away. And maybe Yugi and Malik would form a real friendship with you.] **_Shadow Bakura held out his hand to Ryou.

A real friendship. A real friend. That was all Ryou had wanted for a long time now. Maybe...things would be better. His pain was excruciating, and he was losing blood and energy fast. Maybe it would be better to just give it to him. All it had brought him was pain anyway.

Ryou didn't notice, but the Shadow Bakura's smile was getting steadily wider, and darker.

\_**Ryou.**_\ Ryou would've jumped, but he was in no position to.

/...Koe?.../ Even his thoughts were weak sounding.

\_**Ryou, I was wrong. They are your friends.**_\

/..._But you said__―__/_

\_**I KNOW WHAT I SAID! BUT I WAS WRONG! DON'T YOU GET IT, YOU THICK-HEADED FOOL!**_\

Ryou was still very confused, but the only thing he could do was listen, and watch as the tentacles of shadow absorbed the pool of his blood almost hungerly.

\_**If they weren't your friends, they wouldn't have stood by you this long, or trusted your word. They wanted to watch over you to make sure you're safe. They're wary of me, and they have a right to be, because if they're **_**not**_** I'll make them regret it! But that wariness does not mean you should turn your back on them! Has these past years with them taught you **_**nothing**_**?**_\

/...But...Koe.../

\_**LET ME FINISH! Before you were so sure that they cared about you! All it took was some Shadow bastard who looks like me to tell you different and you immediately betray them? If you let a despicable piece of scum like him get to you, you really are pathetic.**_\

Ryou was silent.

_**[Give me the Ring, your friends only have so much time left before the Shadows swallow them whole. If you give it to me I will release them. But what do you care? They aren't really your friends anyway.]**_ The tentacles had finished absorbing the blood on the ground, and was now moving towards Ryou's arms.

_**[Give me the Ri―!]**_

"YOU'RE WRONG!" Shadow Bakura's smile faltered.

"YOU'RE WRONG! YOU'RE WRONG! YOU'RE WRONG! YOU'RE WRONG!" Ryou was shaking, and it hurt like he was being burned alive, but he slowly pulled himself off the ground, his bangs covering his eyes.

"THEY _ARE _MY FRIENDS, I CARE ABOUT THEM, AND THEY CARE ABOUT ME! YOU HURT MY FRIENDS, AND **THOSE WHO HURT MY FRIENDS WILL PAY THE PRICE!**" A wind had started up, and a glowing white circle had formed at Ryou's feet, getting larger by the second, creating an almost miniature glowing white tornado around his ankles. The Ring appeared on his chest, and the Wadjet glowed on his forehead. He smiled wide, showing his canines, but still covering his eyes with his bangs.

\_**Ryou, what are you**__**―**__**!**_\ Bakura was cut off, because suddenly the Ring glowed fiercely, and he appeared in spirit form behind Ryou. But by then he was laughing maniacally, his dark power merging with Ryou's light. Everyone else's eyes were wide, Shadow Bakura snarling. He and all his tentacles lunged at him.

_**[GIVE ME THE RING!] **_Ryou smirked, and lifted his arms.

"_**Never**."_ A black and white beam of power burst from Ryou, hitting Shadow Bakura straight on, the light going so bright that vision was no longer possible. An inhuman scream was the only sound. When the light cleared, Shadow Bakura and all his Shadows were gone. Bakura had phased back into the Ring.

There was a heavy silence, no one moved from their spot. Ryou slowly lifted his bloody hands, staring at them like they were alien, like they weren't his.

/...Koe.../ "...What have I done?"

_**_$#~|line break|~#$_**_

Harry had no idea what just happened.

He'd been running down the street, to find the source of the screaming, when one of the strangers from earlier bolted out of one of the houses, carrying another on his shoulder. He recognized them from their hair, the triple colored hair belonging to the one running, the one over his shoulder being the one that had reminded him of Dumbledore.

He was about to ask them if they knew what was going on, when the third one jumped through the doorway, and explosion of black tentacles of shadow behind him. Harry's jaw dropped, but then pulled his wand out and ran even faster towards them. The tentacles whipped out and caught the two running, leaving the last in a heap in the middle of the road, and pinning the captured two to lamp-posts across the street from each other.

"RYOU!"

The road suddenly got very dark, all the lamp-posts going out, the only light from the moon, and a faint golden glow coming from the two against the posts.

Harry had no idea what the hell to do. The shadows were slithering towards Dumbledore #2, who was laying in a puddle of...blood? He shouted the first spell that came to mind.

"_EXPECTO PATRONUM!_" A stag burst out the end of his wand, charging at the shadows. But they didn't even recede. They just rose up and swallowed all his happy memories whole. And with the disappearance of his patronus, all his hope left him.

"_EXPELLIARMUS! SECTASEMPRA! PROTEGO!_" Even his shield didn't work, the shadows just went straight through it, flinging him into a tree with a snap, where it held him there. They started all the way up to his waist, and with his hands at his sides, underneath them, he couldn't even use his wand. They slowly crept up from there, everything encased in them felt like ice, then went numb until he no longer knew if he still had them or not. He tried to struggle, but they only went faster when he moved, so he stayed still, the experience causing flashbacks to his first year at Hogwarts and the Devil's Snare protecting the Sorcerer's Stone.

"_LUMOS SOLEM!_" He tried screaming the sunlight spell, thinking since this was so similar to Devil's Snare and made of shadows that it would work, but all it did was make them squirm around him, as if they were laughing at his pathetic attempt to thwart them. Deeming this impossible, he focused back on the middle of the street, where the shadows seemed to have taken residence. His eyes grew wide.

The shadows had formed a person-like shape, and had Dumbledore #2 by the throat, holding him aloft by his windpipe. Then it dropped him, laughing maniacally. He looked down at Dumbledore #2 with a smirk, and it almost seemed as if his eyes were saying something, but he didn't move his mouth.

"...Don't touch them!" Dumbledore #2 was staring straight up at the shadow man, but Harry couldn't see his expression as his back was to him. The shadow man just continued leering.

"...You don't know them!... They're my friends!" This confirmed that they were having some sort of conversation, and it was infuriating that Harry couldn't hear the other half. Dumbledore #2 seemed to be in a lot of pain, and he was bleeding excessively, but Harry couldn't tell from where, because he was sitting in it and was covered in it everywhere.

There was a long pause, during which the tentacles feasted on the puddle of blood around Dumbledore #2, and the ones around Harry continued to creep up onto his shoulders. The shadow man's smile steadily got wider, and darker, and the atmosphere got darker, and colder. Harry's despair increased, as he knew full well he could do nothing to get out of this predicament or get rid of the tentacles or the shadow man.

"_Finite Incantatem_." Harry started, and turned his head to see...

"Dumbledore!" He put a finger to his lips and cast another, non-verbal, spell at the shadows around Harry. But it proved ineffective.

"Harry, do you know what is happening?" Dumbledore whispered. Harry shook his head. Dumbledore's expression darkened even more, and continued to silently shoot spells at the shadows. Tentacles reached out to Dumbledore too, but only a few, apparently if the shadow man didn't notice they didn't really have a reason to pin him.

Dumbledore mad a few excessive arm movements, and Harry felt a tingly feeling spread through what was left of what he could feel of his body. Then all of a sudden, he could feel all of himself, and he wasn't being pressed by the shadows. He walked straight through them, and around the tree to Dumbledore. The shadows, though, were still pressed firmly to the tree.

"It was the best I could do on short notice. It makes it so you are intangible, so you could walk through solid objects. But now is not the time to revel in it. _Finite."_ The tingly feeling left him. Dumbledore made as if to walk towards the shadow man and Dumbledore #2, but stopped short.

"YOU'RE WRONG!" It was Dumbledore #2. The shadow man's smile faltered.

"YOU'RE WRONG! YOU'RE WRONG! YOU'RE WRONG! YOU'RE WRONG!" Dumbledore #2 slowly pull himself off the ground, blood dripping off him in a scarlet river, his white hair shining in comparison. Harry could not see his expression, but he bet it was furious.

"THEY _ARE_ MY FRIENDS, I CARE ABOUT THEM, AND THEY CARE ABOUT ME! YOU HURT MY FRIENDS, AND**THOSE WHO HURT MY FRIENDS WILL PAY THE PRICE!**"

_****_A fierce wind started to blow, whipping at a glowing circle that appeared around his ankles, forming a mini-tornado. From the back, his hair seemed to come alive, shining like a star on magical steroids. A golden glow started emanating from his front, but Harry couldn't tell what it was from his position.

A darker glow seemed to from above his head, and insane echo-y laughed sounded through out the street. The black glow and the white glow seemed to merge, but not into gray, just like they were co-existing to help each other.

"Harry, get behind me!" Dumbledore pushed him behind his back, and constructed some sort of magical shield around them, different and more sinister looking than _Protego._

The shadow man snarled, him and all the tentacles lunging toward Dumbledore #2. But Dumbledore #2 just lifted his arms and said something incomprehensible, in a smirking tone. Then, a black and white beam of power burst from his outstretched arms, hitting the shadow man straight on, the light going so bright that vision was no longer possible. Harry was forced to turn away to stop his eyes from burning.

The only thing that could be heard was an inhuman scream. When the light cleared, all the shadows were gone, and the two who had been pinned to the streetlamps were on their hands and knees, panting. Harry looked back at Dumbledore#2.

He had collapsed again, sitting in his own pool of blood, shaking. He lowly raised his crimson-stained hands.

"...What have I done?"

_**_$#~|line break|~#$_**_

**A/N: And finally they meet! The two fandoms have finally crossed paths! I can't wait to write what happens next! (I don't actually know yet. I have a couple different plans, none of them really fully formed yet, but the one I seem to be going with seems promising. Let's just see how this goes). Hmm. Not as many POV (Point-Of-View) changes as I'd originally though. I swore there were more. Well, whatever. Please REVIEW!**

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	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Oh my god! Chapter five! We haven't even officially introduced the fandoms to each other yet. Well I guess that's what we're doing right now so, yeah. ENJOY!**

**I don't own YGO or HP. Which is a shame because I probably would have done a better job dubbing the English version of YGO (though I'd still keep _most_ of 4kids' voice actors. You're awesome, Dan Greene! (but Vic Mignogna would definitely be in it, somewhere.)) and I could probably use some of J.K. Rowling's fortune (you know, for...important things, like writing a _real_ book)(or buying the rights to YGO) (either or).**

Underlined dialogue = Japanese

/_Italics inside slashes = mindlink/ _

_\= yami /= hikari_

_Underlined italics = Ancient Egyptian_

"_Full italics without slashes in quotations = talking without mindlink in spirit form_"

"_Latin in italics with quotations = spells"_

_Italics without quotes = thoughts (to one's self, not with one's yami)_

**The Assault of the Shadows**

**Chapter 5**

Yugi was having trouble breathing, down on his hands and knees on the pavement.

\_Aibou, are you alright?\ _Yugi sent him a mental nod, too disoriented to give him a real one.

/_I'll be fine. What happened? Weren't you in control?/_

_\I'm not sure. I think the blast forced me back into the Puzzle. It is...difficult...to even maintain this link. But are you sure you are okay?\_

_/I'm __**fine**__, Yami. The person we should be worrying about is Ryou./ _Yugi lifted his eyes towards his fair-haired friend, to almost choke on what little breath he'd regained.

"RYOU!"Yugi lunged forward, disregarding the pain in his chest and his fatigue, rushing toward his blood-covered comrade.

_\YUGI, DON'T__―__!\_But Yugi didn't care. He didn't _care_ if he was possessed by a malicious spirit! His friend was in trouble!

There was a flash of gold, and Yugi stumbled.

"MALIK, NO!" The dagger of the Rod was millimeters from Ryou's throat.

"Why _not_! I should just finish him off now, and be done with it! He has the RING, Yugi! The RING! He may not even be Ryou anymore! If I kill him now, _He_ won't ever come back to kill us!" Malik had lapsed back into Japanese. Yugi figured it was easier for him than using English, Japanese being his third language, English his fourth, and Yugi could still understand him.

Yugi latched onto his arm and tried to pull him back.

"Look at what you're doing Malik! Murder won't solve anything! The Ring would just find a new host! And you'd be killing Ryou too!" Malik stiffened, the dagger minimally retreating in response.

"If we take the Ring now, it wouldn't have a chance to find a new host. I cherish Ryou as a friend, but it's the only way!" Yugi gripped Malik's arm tighter, crying in despair.

"If Marik came back and you were in a similar state, would you want us to kill you too?"

The response was immediate. Malik retreated so quickly he was a gold blur again. He dropped the Rod on the pavement with a _clang_, moving as far away from it as his current strength allowed. He ended up about seven feet away, shaking, his eyes wide.

Yugi wiped his eyes with his sleeve, picked up the rod and slid it into his pocket, and made his way over to Ryou. He hadn't seemed to have heard any of that, he was just staring at his bloodied hands with a glazed look in his eyes, disbelief and terror plainly written across his face. Yugi slowly, cautiously, stretched out a hand.

"...Ryou?" The second his hand made contact with Ryou's shoulder, the blood-soaked almost-albino went limp, collapsing back into his puddle of crimson.

"RYOU!...No Ryou, please wake up!...RYOU!" Yugi shook him frantically.

\_Aibou,_ _it could be a trick! You just saw what happened! The Spirit of the Ri__―__!__\_

_/I DON'T CARE!/ _Yami was shocked at the raw emotion in Yugi's voice.

/_I DON'T CARE IF THE SPIRIT IS BACK! SOMWHERE IN HERE IS MY FRIEND, AND HE'S BLEEDING TO DEATH! HE'S MY FRIEND, AND I'M GOING TO HELP HIM LIKE HE HELPED US! HE SAVED US, YAMI! I WON'T ABANDON HIM!/_ The force of Yugi's emotion in his decision shoved Yami back into his soul room, locking the door. Yugi tried to pick Ryou up, but he was too heavy. He looked to Malik for help, but he was still shaking seven feet away, eyes glazed, and didn't respond. Yugi looked around the dimly lit street desperately for someone or something that could help.

"ANYBODY...SOMEBODY...PLEASE HELP!...PLEASE!"

He couldn't see anything in the dim light, and he didn't know what to do. He couldn't hold back his tears anymore, finally escaping and streaming down his face.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

"The Order answered your summons Dumbledore, what's the probl―Bloody Hell!"

"What in Merlin's name happened here?"

"Who're those boys? Dumbledore, what's going on?"

Yugi didn't understand what was happening. Where were all these people coming from? A crowd had suddenly formed out of thin air, all of them wearing long robes and shrieking in surprise at the sight of his, Ryou, and Malik's positions. They brief conferred with a bearded man in a exceptionally weird outfit (even for the robed people), then turned towards him with wary expressions. He couldn't understand what they were saying, despite the volume, because they were talking too quickly, and English was his third language (the others being Japanese and a basic level of ancient Egyptian from Yami). One of them, a woman, walked slowly up to him, a wooden rod of some sort held aloft in front of her, the others watching with rapt attention from afar.

"Don't make any sudden movements!"

"Please...could you please help me? My friend is hurt and I don't know what to do!" Her expression softened, and she nodded.

"Stupefy!" And everything went black.

_**_$#~|line break|~#$_**_

Harry watched as the Order of the Phoenix members scanned the strange boys for dark magic, and secured the area. They then levitated the unconscious trio onto stretchers, and Disapparated away.

"Professor, what's going to happen to them?" Dumbledore looked grave, but turned to Harry and smiled.

"Nothing bad, I assure you. Unless, of course, they turn out to be Dark wizards, but I am doubtful on that account." Harry wasn't sure he could agree with that. "They'll probably be healed of their wounds and then asked questions, but I am more concerned with what has _already _happened to them." He stroked his beard, a wistful look in his eyes. "It was certainly an interesting display, of that I have no doubt. I wonder..." He trailed off, Harry achieving a puzzled expression.

"You mean you _don't_ know what was going on before?" The Hogwarts Headmaster chuckled, and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Despite outside appearances, I unfortunately do not know everything, Harry, no matter how much I wish it were so." He chuckled again, and smiled. "However, I am still flattered you came to that conclusion. Do I seem that flawless?" The wistful look reappeared, but was gone again just as quickly. "But putting that aside, let's leave this interesting occurrence behind us for the moment, we have more pressing matters to attend to. Grasp my arm, if you would, Harry." The scarred boy raised an eyebrow at the swift dismissal of the subject, but grasped the proffered arm as was told. He would not be deterred this easily, and would certainly bring it up again, if not with Dumbledore, with Ron and Hermione when he saw them.

"Now Harry, this is going to be unpleasant, but I assure you, as long as you a retain a firm grip on my limb, no harm shall come to you."

CRACK!

_**_$#~|line break|~#$_**_

\_YUGI! YUGI LET ME OUT!_\ Yami was desperately banging on his soul room door, and had been since Yugi had locked him in, which, to Yami, felt like hours ago. Normally something like this wouldn't be able to hold him back, but that blast had drained him, and he became increasingly worried as he felt Yugi go unconscious through the mind link. He had no idea what was going on, Yugi was not waking up, and the magical locks on the door were not weakening, despite his efforts and Yugi's unconsciousness.

\_YUGI! PLEASE WAKE UP!_\ He cried out in frustration, slamming both hands against the door.

\_I'M SORRY! I TRULY AM! PLEASE LET ME OUT!\ _He pressed his forehead to the door, blinking back tears._ \I NEVER MEANT TO PREVENT YOU FROM HELPING RYOU! I JUST__―__!\ _He slammed his fist once more against the polished stone door, not caring if it bled (the blood wasn't real anyway). \_I was just trying to protect you. I never meant to upset you...I'm sorry.\ _The door glowed white for a moment, then swung gently open. Yami smiled despite his worry, wiping away the traitorous droplets of water that had escaped his eyes. All Yugi ever really needed to forgive someone was a sincere apology. He was just like that. Of course his magic would be too.

Yami ran through the hallway, and barged into his light's room, being careful not to step on any of the toys on the floor. Yugi was sprawled out on his light blue bed, fast asleep, and seeing him like that calmed Yami down considerably, but he still held onto some of his worry.

\_Aibou. Aibou, wake up. Yugi, can you hear me?\ _Despite his attempts, Yugi was not waking up. He noticed faint traces of magic hovering around his Aibou, foreign magic he did not recognize, and his anxiety came right back, and so did his anger. He tried to eradicate it with power from the Puzzle, but the foreign magic stuck stubbornly to him, and would not disperse. Yami saw red. Whoever had done this, whoever had performed magic on his aibou without his permission, would suffer an unending, slow, painful death, over and over again, as the Shadows consumed their soul, ripping their entire being into small shards of scum that he would personally lock in separate pits of hellfire in the Shadow Realm to rot for eternity. Yami took control of the body, his anger steadily building towards unstable levels.

_XxX mini line break XxX_

He had trouble opening his eyes, fatigue plagued his entire being. A light snoring was coming from a little ways away, and he seemed to be laying on something soft and cushioned, slightly warm from his body heat. When he finally forced his eyelids upward, the room blurred into existence. A man sat snoring in a folding chair near the door, wearing ankle-length robes of some sort and totally oblivious to any and all immediate occurrences. Malik was propped up on a large armchair, out cold underneath a woolen blanket, drooling slightly. But where was―?

A small groan came from the other direction, and Yami whipped his head around, to see an unconscious Ryou lain across a sheet-covered couch, a fleece blanket drawn up only to his torso, his bandaged arms strewn across his chest. He almost looked like he just died and was laid to rest upon the couch, what with his pallid complexion and recent blood loss, the bandages giving him the illusion of being half mummified. Yami dispelled those thoughts, and, sensing no immediate danger (besides the possibility of them all being drugged or poisoned, the immense fatigue seeming awfully suspicious) tried to force Yugi's aching body to move.

They looked to be in some sort of shack, judging by the state of the walls and ceiling (rot, dust and dirt seemed to be an ongoing theme), but despite this, the room was comfortably warm, there didn't seem to be any bugs or rodents, and the furniture seemed relatively new. It was all extremely suspicious, but still harmless, for the moment.

Yami finally managed to sit upright, feeling whatever it was that had drained Yugi's body start to subside, and he went to stand up.

!

A loud shrieking pierced through the room, causing Yami to start, and the snoring man to fall off his chair with a shout. Glowing pods of energy seemed to grow out of the floor, each one surrounding one of the bearers. Malik had woken up, and was looking around in confusion and shock, hands on his ears, while Ryou stilled seemed to be out of it (Yami mused they had given him extra drugs for the arm lacerations). Yami himself had his own hands on his ears, trying to save Yugi's eardrums from permanent damage.

The snoring man mouthed something, waving a thin wooden rod and the shrieking stopped, thankfully, and Yami chose this moment to study him. He was a redhead, a balding one, and was wearing an odd assortment of clothes, in Yami's opinion (coming from the ancient pharaoh who wears black leather, heaps of gold, and half a Japanese high school uniform), plus what seemed to be a robe like traveling cloak on top. He kept the wooden rod aloft, pointing it back and forth between Yami and Malik, as if unsure which one would be more of a threat, eying Ryou every couple of seconds to make sure he hadn't regained consciousness too.

He went to speak, but the door burst open before he could form the words.

"What've ya done now, Weasley?" An extremely strange, gruff-looking man hobbled through the doorway, wielding a large staff and some sort of electrical blue eye, whizzing about in it's socket, held on by a multitude of leather straps. His regular eye was small and dirt-colored, and both took turns staring between the two conscious foreigners. The balding man frowned.

"I have done nothing wrong, Alastor. One of the boys must have set off the alarm when he woke up." 'Alastor' grunted, and peered through the hazy pods at them, in a way that disturbed Yami and made him shiver in disgust.

"The alarm only goes off only when they try ta get up. They were probably tryin' ta kill ya in yer sleep. If I were Dumbledore, I would'a arrested 'em on the spot and been away with the trouble, but I guess even Dark wizards deserve a fair trial before they rot in Azkaban. Gives us a nice layout of all their hideous deeds, which makes the incarceration all the more enjoyable."

'Weasley' looked aghast. "They just teenagers, Mad Eye! I seriously doubt that any of them are worthy of Azkaban! They're probably just a couple of young wizards who were attacked by Death Eaters or something. You shouldn't jump to conclusions like that!"

'Mad Eye' snorted, and crossed his arms, the blue eye whirring loudly in its socket. "I'll bet _they're_ the Death Eaters, and they're just waitin' for us ta let 'em out so they can kill us."

"Moody!"

"I bet the blonde one's the leader, and star head and albino boy are his lapdogs, followin' each order like good little Death Eaters, doin' exactly like the Dark Lord wants. But I bet they never expected ta be caught red handed, performin' dark rituals with blood sacrifice in the middle of a muggle street in a highly populated area. How thick did they think they could get?"

"_I do not enjoy be talked about in such a rude manner. If you have something to say to me, say it to my face, not like a coward who uses paranoid assumptions and lies to inflate his own ego._" Yami's eyes flashed before they were hidden beneath his bangs, his lips forming a snarl. The two men seemed taken aback, but Moody scowled in return.

"Don't talk ta me, Death Eater. Scum like you belong 'n only one place, an' that's Azkaban. Death Eaters, 'specially fourth rate Death Eaters, don' deserve ta talk in to me in that tone. So watch yer mouth, scum."

The whole room seemed to dim and go cold, like an ominous wind had swept through and taken all the warmth and light with it. The shadowy corners looked to be growing, slowly increasing in size, writhing and creeping along the floor towards the two adults. Yami laughed loudly, startling the others in the room with its menacingly contempt sound.

"You speak like the things you say have meaning. I find it highly amusing that you consider yourself superior to me, when in truth your position is far below mine. Those who hurt my hikari, or perform unauthorized magic upon him, are _less_ than scum, and do not deserve to breathe the same air as he, or any at all. And I promise you, I will assure that that air is returned to him, and whether you live through the process I could care less, as long as you pay the price for the wrongs you have committed." Yami's canines glinted in the dim light, by now both men had raised their wooden rods out, pointing them straight at Yami, whose magic pod-cage thing seemed to be cracking, not being able to contain his spiritual pressure. "Those who hurt my hikari do not deserve to live, and I live to correct this error of your continuing existence. But do not worry, you might survive, though I can say now you will probably wish you had died by the time I decide you have suffered enough. So say your prayers, and hope that today I feel merciful."

_**_$#~|line break|~#$_**_

Yugi's head felt like it was on fire. His arms were wrapped around it, and he curled up in a ball, trying to suffer through the pain. It had erupted the second he woke up in his soul room, and he was seeing stars it was so bad. It felt like his head was surrounded in some sort of pain cloud, and no matter how much he shook his head, it would not disperse.

After a couple minutes of laying like that, moaning and writhing, the pain started to subside, but any sudden movement caused a new burst, so Yugi took his time sitting up.

The last thing he remembered was sitting in the street, covered in blood with Ryou in his arms, pleading for that woman with the wooden rod to help him. She had nodded, then shouted something, and he'd felt a shower-like feeling wash over him before he passed out. It seemed extremely odd that he would pass out like that. He hoped Ryou, Malik, and Yami were okay. Yugi replayed the events in his head, analyzing them.

The Spirit of the Ring was back, of that he was sure.

That meant bad things. It either meant Ryou had been Bakura acting as him this whole time, Bakura had threatened him to keep his presence a secret, or Ryou had deliberately lied to them. Yugi didn't like any of the options, but with what he had, he sincerely hoped it wasn't the first one, because that meant Bakura was planning something, and back at full power. The second and third were bad too, but with those it was more likely Bakura was very weak and couldn't do as much harm. But with Ryou's display...Yugi wasn't so sure he was all that weak. And the way they had merged...it was unlikely that at least that part had been against his will, meaning he had some sort of feeling of acceptance towards Bakura, which could go either way on good/bad scale. Yugi bit his lip.

_Eurgh, why did everything have to be so complicated? Why couldn't everyone just be friends? If we could just get along we wouldn't get into these kinds of messes! Not to mention that we're going to have to explain what was going on and how we all ended up so bloody to the people who helped us, and how are we going to do that without giving everything away?_

And what was worse, was that now that Bakura was back, everyone was going to be on edge, especially Yami and Malik, and that would cause tension, and when a group needs to at least appear as a united front, tension and grudges and paranoia are not going to help at all. In fact they'd probably blow everything. Which is great, because the people who help them will probably get stuck in the middle and either used as hostages or try to kill them. The only one who would like that would be Bakura, which would be typical and troublesome, because he'd probably cause it.

_And, _after that, there was also the problem of the Shadows attacking them. Yugi didn't like the sound of that at all. The Shadows, while malevolent and unmerciful, were always a neutral power, never caring what side they were on, and always following the commands of the one wielding them. The fact that they could act on their own, without direction, against bearers of the Millennium Items, whom they had picked themselves, was unsettling and downright terrifying. Had they done something against the unwritten rules of the Shadows? Had they trespassed over some particular line that was forbidden? More specifically, had Ryou done so? Because the Shadows had specifically picked him out of the all the bearers, and shown up as Bakura, or a fake version of him, at least. It was made plain that it wasn't Bakura when the Ring appeared and blew him up, the real one cackling behind Ryou in a creepily insane manner, like he just drunken a full barrel of "happy juice" or something. Or vodka. Or whiskey. Any one would work. But whichever way, Bakura was back, the Shadow's were pissed at Ryou, Marik and Yami had both gone super paranoid insane, Ryou could be in critical condition with all the blood loss, and people with strange clothes and wooden rods had tried to help them before he had inconveniently passed out

Yugi groaned, and rubbed his temples. _I think I just made my headache worse._ He stood up slowly, his headache still lingering, but now just annoying instead of someone hitting his head with a sledgehammer. He crossed his soul room and opened his door, to go check on Yami.

What he found made his blood run cold.

Yami's door was pulsing, violently, and it had turned dark; black, red, and purple shadows were swarming all around it. The spiritual pressure emanating from the door was staggering, and the vibe I gave off was menacing, dark, and _hungry_.

Yami was _angry,_ and out for vengeance.

Yugi immediately reached out to his body, looking out through his eyes, and his eyes widened. Shadows were slowly enveloping the room, as Yami's anger increased, and it was clearly directed at the two men pointing wooden rods at him. They seemed somewhat familiar...

Yugi gasped. /_YAMI STOP!_/

\_YUGI! You're alright!\ _Yugi felt relief flood through the mind link. \_Stay in your soul room, I don't want to you to see this. Those who hurt you do not deserve to exist._\ Hurt him? What was he talking about?

/_NO YAMI, STOP! DON"T HURT THEM! THEY DIDN"T HURT ME, THEY HELPED US! PLEASE YAMI, STOP!_/ He remembered where he recognized them from; they had been among the group that had shown up with that woman to help them. Yami must have jumped to conclusions when he found him unconscious.

\_Aibou, there was foreign magic surrounding you, and it had obviously harmed you! And _those who hurt my light shall perish by my hand_!\_ Yugi almost screamed in frustration. Outside, around Yami, a white mist seemed to be materializing trying to push back the ever growing shadows.

"Stupefy!" A burst of light shot out of 'Mad Eye's' staff, and headed straight for Yami, but it fizzled into nothing at contact with the white light. The two men seemed shocked.

_/YAMI, LISTEN TO ME! STOP, JUST STOP!/ _Yugi was almost in tears now, and the mist was getting thicker. /_THEY MEAN US NO HARM! THEY'RE JUST TRYING TO HELP, AND YOU'RE SCARING THEM!/ _

You almost couldn't see Yami anymore. The other conscious people in the room were staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed, as the whiteness started to concentrate at a specific point.

\_But Aibou! They__—__\_

"**NO!**" The concentrated white light seemed to burst, and the others shielded their eyes. When they looked back...

"Yami...?" Yugi was in control of the body again, the pod gone, and he was just standing there with a confused and slightly surprised look on his face. The men seemed even more puzzled, and wary, speeches like that usually imply an attack, but the kid seemed a lot calmer now, and just shocked, not angry or dark. The pods around Malik and Ryou had disappeared too, but Ryou was still out cold. Malik had a blank expression, like he couldn't decide what his reaction was anymore than he could figure out what just happened. 'Mad Eye' still had his staff out in front of him, pointed at Yugi, and 'Weasley' had one of those wooden rods from before pointed at him, too.

"Whoa...what happened to your hair? It's crazier than mine!" All eyes swung to the door, where a young woman with light pink spiked hair stood, a dark-skinned man following behind.

'Weasley' looked surprised, and lowered his wand, and 'Moody/Mad Eye' scowled. "Tonks, yer early."

'Tonks' frowned, and raised a brow. "No me and Kingsley are exactly on time for our guard shift, see?" She held up a purple watch in front of 'Mad Eye's' face, moving it too fast to really see it. "But I guess Dumbledore is needed more than we are, judging by their conscious state of being, and your paranoia." She thumbed in the bearers' direction, and 'Weasley' nodded.

"I was just going to send for him, they—"

"I'll do it Arthur," 'Kingsley' interrupted. "I have the outside guard anyway. You start asking them basic questions. Mad Eye, come with me, I need to talk to you." 'Mad Eye' frowned, but when Kingsley gave him a look, he scowled, flashed a scathing glare at the bearers and followed the tall, dark man out of the shack. 'Weasley' and 'Tonks' turned to them.

"Um...hello. I am Arthur Weasley, and this is Nymphadora Tonks, and we'd like to ask you a few questions."

"It's _just_ Tonks."

"Oh right, um, sorry. Anyway, could you please tell us your names?" Yugi and Malik both hesitated with wary looks, but then Yugi shrugged.

"I'm Yugi Mutou, that's Malik Ishtar, and our friend on the couch is Ryou Bakura." Internally, Yugi was frantically trying to locate Yami. But he wasn't responding through the mind link, and going entirely into his soul room would be suspicious and cause him to zone out until he or Yami took control again, so he couldn't. He was calling and calling, but getting nothing, and he was getting anxious, but he tried not to let it show. Hopefully, these people would conveniently forget the whole white light bursting thing that happened two minutes ago.

He put on a bright smile and bowed low."Thank you for helping me and my friends in our moment of need. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't shown up, so thank you very much, we are extremely grateful." Malik was silent, with a suspicious look on his face, still not very trustful of these people. They had locked them inside some sort of glowing pods, and it looked like no shadow magic he'd ever seen before, and he'd grown up with it. And that white light that had come from Yugi had looked weirdly like the light that had previously emanated from Ryou when Shadow Bakura attacked. He spared a glance at the sleeping Ryou. At least the Ring was nowhere to be found.

"Those names...sound...Asian-like. Are you Chinese or Korean maybe?" Yugi smiled at the pinkette.

"Japanese, actually. We're here on vacation."

"Could you tell us what exactly happened to you the other night? It's really important for us to know." The door banged open again.

"My presence was required, I presume?" Yugi recognized him as the old man he saw in the group on the night of the attack. Malik's eyes seemed to narrow at his bright and unusual appearance, 'clinically insane' coming to mind at the sight.

"And who the hell are you?" His tone seemed to surprise Arthur and Tonks.

"I am Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And who might you be?"

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**A/N: Hi! Sorry for the whole two and a half month wait, I just couldn't figure out how to end this chapter. I have like six pages of deleted scenes in another document on my desktop, that took a lot of energy to write but still turned out suckish. Then again, this one isn't that great, but out of all of them this seemed the least rushed and the least OOC. I guess this is more of a filler, and not really worth the wait, but it needed to be done to progress the story, so here it is, in all its suckish glory. I promise to make the next chapter way better than this (you can't really go much lower without being entirely horrendous), so now you have a different chapter to set an impossibly high expectation for that will ultimately not even come close (but at least it'll be something to read, and less crappy than other things you could be reading). So, please review, and don't kill me for the wait. The filler chapters (at least for me) are a lot harder to write, because I can't put as much fun action in, and I actually have to explain things. Please Review, and maybe I'll be happy enough to throw myself into writing the next chapter more quickly and efficiently! REVIEW! **

**FAA331**

**REVIEW**

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